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South SF Dad Pleads No Contest In Stolen Yacht Abduction Case

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/AP) - A South San Francisco man is facing up to four years and four months in jail after pleading no contest to charges that he kidnapped his two children and took them away on a stolen yacht.

Forty-three-year-old Christopher Maffei entered the plea Friday in a San Mateo County courtroom on one count of child abduction and one count of possession of a stolen boat.

He is scheduled to be sentenced June 7.

Authorities said Maffei kidnapped his 3-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son from their mother's South San Francisco home Sept. 4. They said he then took them on a 41-foot yacht he stole from an Alameda marina.

Maffei and the children spent three days on the water before the Coast Guard intercepted the vessel off Monterey County. The children were not hurt.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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